From: Mike McNally <m5@vail.tivoli.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 03:53:50 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Feinstein wants controls on Internet, Books
In-Reply-To: <ae20e54404021004a690@[205.199.118.202]>
Message-ID: <31FBA2D3.C32@vail.tivoli.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Timothy C. May wrote:
> 
> One of my senators, Senator Dianne Feinstein, is now arguing on CNN for
> controls on information put on the Internet, on censorship of books and
> articles describing how pipe bombs work ...

I can only assume that anybody who reaches adulthood without incidentally
learning how to make a bomb, or who at least becomes acquainted with
someone else who they can confidently assume knows how to help out in
a pinch, is merely an idiot.  It appears that Ms. Feinstein herself has
no idea how to make a bomb, and that therefore she assumes it's a monstrous
cabal of psychotic murderers that passes this sort of information around 
via illicit texts and, lately, the despicable Internet.

Who's never read a spy novel or muder mystery with (possibly bogus, though
at least vaguely accurate) bomb-building hints?  Who's grown up with
violent American television and film without absorbing at least a shred
of information regarding bombs?   Is it really possible that a marginally
intelligent person could find themselves needing to build a bomb but
have no idea how to proceed?

Either that, or Ms. Feinstein assumes (depressingly, perhaps correctly) 
that her constituency is itself so collectively idiotic that they'll 
accept such activity as good work done for their benefit.

I doubt the latter.  Ms. Feinstein has never in public speech given me
intuitive feelings that she's at all a devious, subtly manipulative person.
I think she's an honest idiot who turns the fortune of her political power
to causes she believes to be right.  It's infuriating.

So infuriating, in fact, that I'll vent a bit more.  How effective does
Ms. Feinstein imagine a ban on bomb-building information might be?  Those
who've already learned can't be expected to forget, so there'll be a 
period of time during which today's crop of crazed bombers work the
urges out of their systems.  There'll be the determined traffic in 
illegal dog-eared volumes traded secretly among those awful militia 
members in all the "scary" states between Lake Tahoe and the Potomac.
Given the rarity of bombings today, can anyone honestly expect that even
the most draconian crack-down on information will turn back the clock 
to the days before virtually every adolescent male knew the raw 
ingredients of gunpowder?

Finally, note that you'd better hurry and order your video copy of the 
old Star Trek episode "Arena"...


[ ... time to mellow out; I'm switching from coffee to beer. ]
______c_____________________________________________________________________
Mike M Nally * Tiv^H^H^H IBM * Austin TX    * For the time being,
       m5@tivoli.com * m101@io.com          *    
      <URL:http://www.io.com/~m101>         *    three heads and eight arms.